Well, there’s good news and there’s not so good news … The good news is that neither Ryan nor I were eaten by bears; nor were we picked up by helicopters. The not so good is that I didn’t make it to the finish line, and neither did Ryan. He was timed out by 7 minutes on the last check point, having run 40km (what an effort!). I tripped pretty early in the race and landed awkwardly, putting my back into spasm. I was determined to keep going, but I couldn’t run and over time my mobility shut down, which is pretty bad when you’re hopping over boulders, crossing running rivers, and climbing up vertical walls of rock. To be honest, going on would have been outright dangerous, and much as I enjoy pushing it, I was pretty keen to make it back to Cambridge in once piece. And so, when I got to the check point just after the half marathon distance, I called it a day. You can see what I managed below.
I am obviously disappointed not to have finished, and I do feel that I was well short of my best on the day, but I also had an amazing time. The landscape is stunning, the people taking part were hilarious and adventurous and very supportive of one another. It’s an amazing sport: men and women compete completely equally, there are people of all shapes and sizes, and it is a huge test to cover difficult terrain, within the time limits, and without falling or injuring yourself. The course itself was very technical, and the first peak we climbed was easily the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. Far more difficult than running the marathon. It was a magnificent adventure, and I’ve loved every minute of the training.
Final words are for thanks: thank you to Pinky and Ainhoa (see below) for cheering us on in Vielha; thank you to Ainhoa’s parents for their help, and to all of Ryan and Ainhoa’s wonderful friends for being so welcoming; and finally, thank you to all of the amazing people who have sponsored the fundraising efforts. To have raised over £6000 is far more than I anticipated at the start of the challenge (in fact, it’s exactly six times what I anticipated!). I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to finish the race and pull it all together, but I’m confident that the donations were made with the charity as the priority.
